Retailers take on Silicon Valley

November 15, 2013
by Anne D'innocenzio

(AP)—Software engineers wearing jeans and flip flops test the latest smartphone apps. Walls and windows double as whiteboards where ideas are jotted down. And a mini basketball net is in the center of it all.

At first glance, this workplace resembles any Silicon Valley startup. There's just one exception: Target's trademark red bulls-eye at the entrance.

Target, Kohl's and home-shopping network QVC are among a half dozen retailers opening technology test labs in the San Francisco area to do things like improve their websites and create mobile shopping apps. They're setting up shop in modern spaces and competing for top Silicon Valley talent to replicate the creativity, culture and nimbleness of online startups.

The goal is to stay on top of tech trends and compete with online rivals like Amazon.com.

(AP)—The Canadian government is trying to lure Silicon Valley tech workers who are frustrated by U.S. visa policies, just as Congress wrestles with a long-sought overhaul of America's immigration system.

On the third floor of the historic Folgers Coffee Co. building, just blocks from the city's famed Embarcadero waterfront, Target Corp. is brewing up a storm, and it has nothing to do with caffeinated beverages.

The Silicon Valley has had a men's fashion problem dating back to its founders. From their inception, tech companies went out of their way to be different—and that meant no more business suits. Thus brilliant innovations ...

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